Coin head for coin controlled devices



Feb. 936 T, w. B. WATLING 3h34? COIN HEAD FOR COIN CAONTROLLED DEVICES Filed sept. y19, 1935 Y Patented Feb. 1s, 193s UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicEi Thomas .W.B;'Wa.t1ing; Chicago,` Ill., assigner to f WatlingScale- Company, Chicago, Ill., a corpo-1-` ration.Av of Illinois Application-September 19, 1935; Serial No. 41,217

4-;Claims:

This invention relates to what is known as'a coin" headfifdr-coinI controlled 4tripsmfor operating-"weighing scales; vending machines, and the lilt'ef suchcoinpperated machines are commonly lcatedinesuch 'publicjplaces as railwaystations,

hotels; limchfrooms,V etc and" in^manyfcasesrit has-"hitherto `been possiblef-V for a i dishonestemployeerof the# establishment Where-'theV machine is wlocated-'fltdcheat'theowner of 'the vlmachine by removingI 'ai'.portion ofthe collected coins-thereing.

One-f object-Koi -the f presentinvention is f to 1 provide: af coiniheadffor: such machinesl that.- will preventi thesurreptitious-i abstraction of f part Aof the deposited coins without giving notice to .thel

proprietor" ofy thezmachineA of the loss of such coins, andthe amount'abstracted; and this objectis'faccomplished :by incorporatinginthe l coin head' Ian improved :counter mechanism that reg- ZDf-isters eachcoin.'goingsthrough theJmachine each timeithef coin .depositing-member makes aVv full inv mate-penny, nickel',v dimeorxother coin called forh f'bythe1machine; For thisreason-,the mechanism for.'p,assing;;the .coinito the point'where it trips into action the pointer of a weighing machine. or

thefdeliveryvdevice: of a' vendingn machine often becomesecloggedand tdisabled, and then` the coin head'hasto'beY opened up, cleaned of. obstructions,v repaired if damaged; and restored to workingacondition., All this takes time and labor, and anothenobject of. the invention is to provide a construction. of coinheady that shall have an 49"* easily removable. andappliable cover for, the` relatively movablepartsof the mechanism, so that therlatter, can..be.readi1yY gotten at for cleaning and. repairs.

Still. another. object is.- to -provide a coin head l5 f equipped with a removable cover normally locked thereon by` a. key., and whereinthe coin depositingj mechanism of'the head will be inoperative unless the cover is in place; and thisV is accomplished by means of an element carried by the 50-coverwhich forms p art of the lower cover lock and. also cooperatesY with the trailing end of the coin in the coin slide to hold the coin flat.

initsseat and prevent. the, blocking of the coin slidebya tilting movement of the coin itself. 55 Th-is'cover balksdishonest efforts to operate the (CLA 194--92) mechanism by a false coin or` coinv substitute-by' first removing-the cover.

Other objects and attendant advantages of thev invention will be apparent to persons familiar with devices of this character from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing:-

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the device, inhorizontal section through the cover on the line I-I of Fig. 2, showing the coin slide fullyA retracted.'

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 2-2of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section, similar to Fig. 2, showing the coin slide advanced without a coin therein and automatically blocked againstv making a sucient stroke to actuate the counter'.

Fig; Ll-is a fragmentary plan View, partly in section, of the parts in the p osition'shown in Fig. 3, takenr onthe line-4 4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken onr the line 5 5 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, IIJ designates-*as an entirety a cast metal frame adapted to beI secured to the cabinet of the coin controlledscale, vending machine, or the like, with which the device is associated. Secured as by screws'II to the flat top of the frame Il) is the basev plate I2 formed with upwardly` and inwardly vturned edge portions that constitute'slideways I3 for the flat coin slide-I4. Base plate I2 is formedk withv front'l and intermediate holes I5 and I 6, respectively, both of which are of less diameter'thanV the coin adapted to be used, and, beyond the hole IS is a rear hole Il of a diameter largerthan the coin and through which the latter is discharged.

The coin slide I4 is formed with a singleholev IBv of a size to just be filled by thel coin.

Secured toand between the rear portionsof the slideways i3 is a flat plate I9 having a'longitudinal counter sunkportion 20 in Whichis'formed a longitudinal slot 2 l. Secured to or integral withv the plate I9 on opposite sides of the slot 2| are a pair of lugs 22 in and between which is pivoted at 23 a stop finger 24 normally` urged 'down- Wardly into the hole i6 by a leaf spring! 5.

If the coin slide Ul be actuated without anyl coin therein, the finger 24 will pass throughthel coin hole I8 of the 'slide and also the underlying hole I5, and will thus, block further inward movement ofthe coin slide, as clearly shown in Fig', 3. On the other hand, if there be a proper coin in the seat VI 3 of the coin slide, the coin, through engagement with the` nose of the stop nger 24, will hold the latter'out of vsaid holes andthus permit' a full in-stroke of the 'coin slide until the coin seat I8 registers with the rear hole I1 of the base plate, whereupon the advance edge of the coin will engage with a depending coin ejector cam 26 to eject the coin. This coin ejector cam 26 is formed as a cut-out and downwardly bent portion of a bridge plate 21, the forward portion of which bridge plate overlies the rear portion of the plate I 9 and is attached thereto by screws 28, and the rear portion of which is attached by a downwardly bent ear 29 and screw 30 to the frame I0.

To permit a full in-stroke of the coin slide beyond the ejection 'cam 26, the slide is formed with a longitudinal slot 3| that straddles the ejection cam, as clearly shown in Fig. 4.

Referring next to the improved counter mechanism, which forms an important feature of the present invention, 32 designates a counter of any known make, the base of which is mounted by screws 33 on the bridge plate 21. Fast on the shaft of the counter is a depending arm 34 that lies across the path of the inner or forward end of the coin slide, so that when the slide is given a full stroke, its inner end strikes the counter arm 34 and swings the same sufficiently to register one coin on the counter 32. The counter arm, when actuated, is returned to normal position by a pull spring 35, in which position its free end portion is arrested by a stop 36 consisting of an end edge portion of the base plate I2.

The device is also equipped with `a known form of full stroke compelling device, consisting of a pivoted dog 31 cooperating with a toothed rack 38 on one edge of the coin slide I4, and a pull spring 39 that causes the dog to lockingly engage with the teeth of the rack alternately from opposite ends of the latter, in a well-known manner, so as to compel full in and out strokes of the coin slide before the latter can be actuated in the opposite direction.

40 designates the cover member, the margins of the sides of which are counter sunk to fit the margins of the base frame I0, as best shown in Figs. 1 and 2. In the upper transverse wall of the 'cover is mounted a lock 4I, on the inner end of the key-actuated shaft of which lock is an arm 42 equipped at its free end with a lateral locking pin 43 adapted to ride beneath a cam surface 44 on the rear end edge of the bridge plate 21, so as to thereby lock the upper end of the cover to the frame. Attached to the interior of the cover at the lower end of the latter is a transverse bar 45 formed with a downwardly offset at central portion 45' (Figs. l and 2), that, when the cover is applied, slides beneath a projecting tongue 46 formed as an extension of plate I9, whereby the lower end of the cover is also locked in place. The bar offset 45 has another function in connection with the operation of the `coin slide. If the bar 45 were not present, when the forward portion of the coin slips beneath the nose of the stop ringer 24, the pressure of the finger would tilt the coin so that its forward or advance edge would collide with the forward edge of the hole I 6, and thus block further inward movement of the coin slide. This tilting movement however, is prevented by the bar 45, the portion 45' of which, at the time the forward edge of the coin passes beneath the nose of the finger 24, overlies the rear or trailing portion of the coin, so that the latter cannot tilt, and thus passes on until it is discharged through the hole I 1 by the cam 26.

Of course, the hole I5 in the base plate might be omitted, and the hole I6 might be substituted by a slot wide enough to receive the stop nger 24, if the device were always operated with the coin for which it is designed. But, as above pointed out, the hole I8 of the coin slide frequently becomes clogged with non-tting slugs, buttons, hair pins, wads of chewing gum and all sorts of other fraudulent articles; and at such times the holes I5 and IB in the base plate facilitate the removal of such articles by an upward pressure of the thumb or finger from beneath without the necessity of disassembling the parts and removing the coin slide.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the described device registers every coin that is passed through it, so that when the coins are collected, if the number received is less than the number shown by the counter, the collector has notice that the machine has been tampered with and robbed.

Of course, modifications of the structural details may be made within the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. In a coin head of the type described, the com-- bination with a frame, of fixed locking members mounted on said frame at opposite ends thereof respectively, mechanism, including a slidable coin holder for conveying a coin through, and discharging it from, said head, mounted on said frame, and a removable cover for said mechanism having at its opposite ends locking members respectively cooperating with the locking members 7 on said frame to lock said cover to said frame, one of the locking members on said cover cooperating with said mechanism through engagement with a coin in said holder to render said mechanism operative.

2. In a coin head of the type described, the combination with a frame, of a base plate mounted on said frame formed with a coin discharge opening at its inner end and with channel guides on its longitudinal edges, a coin holder slide on said base plate engaged with said channel guides and having a coin receiving hole, a bridge plate spanning said channel guides and said slide and having an integral depending portion extending vertically through said discharge opening `and formed with an inclined cam edge adapted to deflect a coin downwardly through said opening, a counter mounted on said bridge plate, and an actuating arm on the shaft of said counter the free end of which lies across the path of said slide and is actuated by the inner end of said slide on a full instroke of the latter.

3. In a coin head of the type described, the combination with a frame having a base plate formed with an opening, of a slide on said base plate having a coin receiving hole adapted to overrun said opening when said slide is moved inwardly, a pivoted spring pressed locking finger overhanging said opening with its free end riding on said slide, said finger being projected through both said hole and said opening when the empty slide is pushed inwardly, a removable cover for said base plate and slide, and a member carried by said cover adapted, through Contact with the trailing portion of a coin in said slide to prevent tilting of the coin under the pressure of said finger on its forward portion as the coin travels across said opening.

4. In a coin head of the type described, the combination with a frame having a base plate formed with an opening, of a slide on said base plate having a coin receiving hole adapted to overrun said opening when said slide is moved inwardly, a pivoted spring pressed locking finger overhanging said opening with its free end riding on said slide, said finger being projected through both said hole and said opening when the empty slide is pushed inwardly, 4a removable cover for said base plate and slide, and interengaging locking members on said base plate and cover, the locking member on said cover consisting of a bar attached to the inner side of the cover adapted through Contact with the trailing portion of a coin in said slide to prevent tilting of the coin under the pressure of said finger on its forward portion as the coin travels across said opening.

THOMAS W. B. WATLING. 

